AP: Anna Nicole Smith investigated in murder plot

Thursday

Oct 8, 2009 at 7:27 AMOct 8, 2009 at 7:28 AM

Associated Press

MIAMI, FLA. • The FBI investigated whether Anna Nicole Smith plotted to kill her tycoon husband's son as they battled for his father's fortune, newly released files show, but the former Playboy Playmate who died in 2007 was never prosecuted.

Smith's FBI records, obtained exclusively by The Associated Press, say the agency investigated Smith in 2000 and 2001 in a murder-for-hire plot targeting E. Pierce Marshall, who was at the center of a long legal fight to keep the starlet, model and one-time stripper from collecting his father's oil wealth, valued in the hundreds of millions. The younger Marshall died three years ago of natural causes.

The documents released under the Freedom of Information Act depict an investigation going on as the fight raged over J. Howard Marshall II's estate. Vast sections of the 100 pages of released materials — a fraction of Smith's full FBI file — are whited out, and no evidence of her involvement in such a plot is detailed.

There is no indication how authorities became aware of any alleged scheme, but agents interviewed Smith on July 3, 2000. Told why she was being questioned, "Smith began crying and denied ever making such plans," a report said.

Smith told agents that killing Pierce Marshall would not have made sense because her exhusband's money would still be tied up in a trust, and because she believed the court battle over the fortune was nearly over, the report states. She told agents she believed the story about the plot was made up by a former lover angry that she broke off their relationship, according to the files.

An April 26, 2001 letter to the FBI from Sally Meloch, an assistant U.S. attorney, said she reviewed the reports but "determined that there is insufficient evidence to establish that there was a murder-for-hire plot by Ms. Smith to kill Pierce Marshall."

Reached at her Los Angeles office on Tuesday, Meloch didn't recall the case, but said, "Any investigations that we didn't proceed with, we couldn't comment on anyway."

Ron Rale, Smith's personal attorney during her life and the executor of her estate, said whatever allegations were made were absolutely false: "Unequivocally, there was never a murder-forhire plot that Anna was involved in. Absolutely false. Never happened. End of story."